Arriva North West has been presented with a certificate of recognition from a local support organisation for its commitment to breaking down taboos and removing the stigma around breastfeeding in public.
The Liverpool Bambis, which works with mothers and provide information and support on breastfeeding, presented the certificate after Arriva signed the Mayoral Charter. This was spearheaded by Bambis in order to make Liverpool and more breastfeeding-friendly area.
Arriva has now fitted over 600 buses across Merseyside with the Liverpool Bambis sticker alongside posters to let the public know the buses are breastfeeding-friendly zones.
Liverpool has one of the lowest breastfeeding rates in the country. However, big businesses such as John Lewis and Everton Football Club have showed their support of the Liverpool Bambis work by signing the Mayoral Charter.
Altcourse Prison has even become the first ever jail to support a scheme like this by signing the charter and providing a room for visiting mums to breastfeed their babies.
YouTube: Chantelle McKeever
Liverpool Bambis co-ordinator, Sarah Todd, told JMU Journalism: “It’s just so positive for us. Our job is to increase breastfeeding rates in the city. We do lag behind the national average but we are doing everything that we can to support mums and to encourage people to try and give it a go.
“We provide them with the information about how to do it and why to do it, but we also need things like promotion, which is where Arriva and the other businesses come into it. We need education, promotion and support and if we can get all of them things right then that’s the way we can start to see the biggest increase.
“Since our service started in 2012, our rates have started to increase so that’s only a positive thing. I think the more that we can be seen in the media with things like this and Arriva signing up, it’s such a big company in the city, then that’s just had a positive impact on what we’re trying to do.”